Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now

"Cory Doctorow 's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now from ID W manages to
capture the geek in all of us, in a primal form, and put it on the page. . ."

— geeksofdoom.com | j

"Cory Doctorow is known as a wild writer of fantastic ideas, a trae blue maverick
in the current field of science fiction."

— brokenfrontier.com

"He [Doctorow] has a knack for identifying those seminal trends of our current
landscape that will in all likelihood determine the shape of our future(s)."

— Paul Di Filippo, SciFi Weekly

CORY DOCTOROW'S

HID J[]ri][]OQO[i][iDi]D]D]QDBf THE HIRf 4ND NOW.

Writer and BoingBoing.net co-editor Cory Doctorow has won acclaim for his science-
fiction writing as well as his Creative Commons presentation of his material. Now, IDW
Publishing is proud to present six standalone stories adapted from Doctorow's work,
each featuring pin-ups by some of comics' top talents including Sam Kieth, Scott
Morse, Paul Pope, Ben Templesmith, Ashley Wood, and more. Stories collected
include: The Locus Award-winning "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth;" "Anda's Game,"
a story selected for inclusion in the Michael Chabon edited 2005 Best American Short
Stories; "Craphound," a story selected for Year's Best Science Fiction XVI; "Nimby and
the D-Hoppers," selected for Year's Best Science Fiction IX; The Hugo-nominated and
Locus Award-winning "I Robot;" and "After the Siege."

CORY DOCTOROW'S

CORY DOCTOROW*S

m

ISBN: 978-1-60010-172-4
11 10 09 08 12 3 4

www.idwpublishing.com

Anda's Game 4

Adapted by Dara Naraglii • Art by Esteve Polls
Colored by Robert Studio • Lettered by Nell Uyetake • Edited by Ted Adams

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth 28

Adapted by J.C. Vaugbn • Art by Daniel Warner
Lettered by Robbie Robblns • Edited by Tom Waltz

Craphound 52

Adapted by Dara Naragbl • Art by Paul McCattrey
Lettered by Robbie Robblns • Edited by Tom Waltz

Nimby and the D-Hoppers 76

Adapted by Dan Taylor • Art by Dustin Evans
Lettered by Robbie Robblns • Edited by Tom Waltz

I, Rohot 100

Adapted by Dara Naragbl • Art by Ericb Owen
Lettered by Cbrls Mowry • Edited by Tom Waltz

After the Siege 126

Adapted by James Antbony Kuboric • Art by Gulu Vllanova
Colored by German Torres • Lettered by Nell Uyetake • Edited by Tom Waltz

Collection edited by Justin Elslnger
Collection designed by Nell Uyetake

IDW Publishing

Operations:

Ted Adams, President
Morris Berger, Chairman
Clifford Meth, EVP of Strategies
Matthev; Ruzicl<a, CPA, Controller
Alan Payne, VP of Sales
Lorelei Bunjes, Dir of Digital Services
Marci Kahn, Executive Assistant
Alonzo Simon, Shipping Manager

CORY DOCTOROW's FUTURISTIC TALES OF THE HERE AND NOW TPB. MAY 2008. FIRST PRINTING. Cory Doctoroiv's
Futuristic Tales of the Here and Nov; © 2008 Cory Doctorovv. "Anda's Game," "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth,"
"Craphound," "Nimby and the D-Hoppers," "I, Robot," and "After the Seige" © 2008 Cory Doctorov;. All Rights
Reserved. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademarit Office. All Rights Reserved. IDW Publishing,
a division of Idea and Design Worl(s, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109. Any
similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artworit used for review
purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design
Worl(s, LLC. Printed in Korea.

IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artworlt.

Editorial:

Chris Ryall, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
Justin Eisinger, Editor
Andrea Steven Harris, Editor
Kris Oprisko, Editor/Foreign Lie.
Denton J. Tipton, Editor
Tom Waltz, Editor

Design:

Robbie Robblns, EVP/Sr Graphic Artist
Neil Uyetake, Art Director
Chris Mowry Graphic Artist
Amauri Osorio, Graphic Artist

What Came First

By Cory Doctorow

I literally can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't a comics reader. There
were comics and science fiction novels around the house from the time I could
reach the shelves, and I started looking at the pictures even before I could read
the words.

Nevertheless, I became a prose writer, not a comics writer. For starters, you
could read a book and figure out how it was wntten: the writer sat down and
hammered out a stream of words, they were typeset and the book was published.
But how did you wnte a comic? Did the writer descnbe each panel? Just write the
dialog? I remember talking it over with friends at summer camp and there was one
kid who was dead certain that the artist drew all the pictures first and then the writer
figured out what the story would be, wnting the dialog that made it all make sense!

Then there was the matter of authorship. I knew who Stan Lee was, of course-
that guy with The Voice who did the voice-overs on the Hull< cartoons. But who
actually *wrote* these comics? I was pretty sure that Stan Lee-and whomever it
was with the initials of "D.C."-weren't penning all the funny books on the spinner
rack at the convenience store. MAD Magazine had by-lines: Al Jaffee, Dave Berg.
But it seemed like the comics' authors' names were tiny downplayed-
unimportant. If I was going to grow up to be a wnter, I wanted to be an important
wnter-not just a farmhand on Uncle Stan's Ranch.

So now I'm a wnter (importance: debatable). The books I write have my name in
big letters on the spine and cover. For better or for worse, they're the products of
my imagination and what happens in them is pretty much down to what I imagine.

Not long ago, the folks at IDW sent me an email and asked me if I'd be game
for licensing some of my stories to be adapted for comics. I was a little skeptical:
I don't know anything about wnting comics (though I was pretty sure by this point
that the words come before the pictures)-and what's more, I do this whacky thing
with my books and stones where I make them available as free, re-mixable
downloads on the day they're published, and I just didn't have the energy to argue
about this with some comics people.

My agent got in touch with IDW, talked to them for a while and came back to
me: "No problem," he said. "They'll get kick-ass writers and illustrators to do the
adaptations, and they'll let us do the whole senes under a Creative Commons
license once it's collected into a single volume." Awesome. "Plus, I got you
approval over the scripts and art as part of the deal." Huh? What do I know about
art and scnpts for comics? Well, it can't hurt.

####

What followed was an education in the whole production cycle for comics, from
treatment to script to rough art to final art to lettenng and inking to covers. And I
got to be a part of it. I mostly sat back and tned not to screw things up-though as
the author of the underlying stones, I was sometimes (infrequently) moved to
intervene and redirect the abridgment process.

Mostly I just sat back in awe as a crew of incredibly talented wnters and artists
paid me the immense compliment of focusing their creative energy on the work
that I'd done. I got to watch as these people interpreted my ideas, got to more-or-
less peer into the heads of readers and discover, in detail, what happened
between the words I wrote and the words they read. It's a spookily cool process.
I heartily recommend it to you-in fact, I'm trying to figure out a compact, quick way
of doing this with my wnting students in the future. It taught me a lot about wnting.

And now here we are, with this extraordinary volume in hand (or on your screen-
hi there, downloadersl). I can call it extraordinary without too much ego because
this is, in a very meaningful sense, not my faoo/t: it's a book that was wntten, drawn
and lettered by Dara Naraghi, Esteve Polls, Sam Keith, Robert Studio, J.C Vaughn,
Daniel Warner, Scott Morse, Paul McCaffrey Paul Pope, Dan Taylor, Dustin Evans,
Ben Templesmith, Ench Owens, Ashley Wood, James Anthony Kuhonc, Guiu
Vlanova, German Torres, Danny Parsons, Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, Chns
Mowry and Amauri Osono. It's got my name on the cover-l guess I'm the schmucky
Stan Lee figure on this spin of the karma wheel-but they did it.

And now I want to wnte comics. I've seen how it's done. I think I can do it. I
guess we'll all find out, soon enough.

Cory Doctorow
March 2008

[5]

LI,£Y LIVED aCWf WHEBE IN

WiJtRE rr W/j5 ALL VC^ELS-
CWA OB OHIO OR f>OI)£^'A:>\<i.

VIOULO YOU r.'il.
-Q MAKE SCWE

WHILE l^ep '^)3£MT5
USUI? 5N TME TELLV,

rt-,?/] //£)l:? i^; S'j

MIS6ICH& WITH -^ilC/.
He3 BgS'?RIEfJIJ
IN-t^iM6.

you WE^N

^suMW err
v/eiRp, SARiS^.

IS f HA' AfrAINST
f :.AN RUL£S?

S/IR£E.'

{KM}. 1 hwve d
MISSCN maT

ALL THE EJfECd-nVES
IM ■^^E iUSN W T|,;e
REWT K)";* WI55IW6J
F5P

CLA»; LEADERSHIP ENFCRCEP A CCPE
CCNPJCT ^HdT WAS MEAtvt TO EN5UP£
i ^Hit MONE OF TWE FA^^Esi^Ef iSiR^iES
ENPf-P UP eElWi V FtrjAL PKOZZIBS.

5£&ic:£5,
COMTAC"
THE/ JUST WANT
TO GO je/ii
" " SOMr C-L'/S.

YOU'fiE A
ANPd,

Fahronhsi-! ! ! ! ILL! ; U ,

TV

7/

[S]

[B]

iUCn ■/OKE IN HER EAR WAS A
CCHS^ANT COffPmSH IN KER ;i?E
N£3h-^, AS TMEy R<!iN Wl&SC'^iS INTO
■THE »S'E£ HSUPS IHE NlSkT.

aCJT,

«N'T DNDPRST^NI?

PAY us CfiSA F-SR
TWfSf WISSICWS.

PJNNO,
eiTHEP.- HELL.

P1C;J iSAf^iER5. Okie's

fuoaNS -my. tHE
p/iriNi US.

•Slf H' UMK AT IT

TkIis w^/^/adst of tme
worlp is livins on, lik£,

sfsds mom txree twousanu
jvjagrH in CHiLU-supresT,

ASS WE'RE NOT E^EM fUCi^i
FUT TO AN AffllCAN OR
WHATEVER, I

'AHPA, fTS NOT
figjU-TMy fOR

yoj TO sPENTi? so

yOJ^ CAJ/.F.. ' HEP

^i;; THERE'S

Sa^E OR
JAPANESE iUy OR
RUSSIAN MAf W Kip
CU'THE3E WHO'S SO
RCH THAT 1-HIS IS JUST I
iHU//P £HANK FCa
y w, AK3 l^E'S PAViNf
US TO *ff S5 AROUNTJ i
VfrTH 60WE OTHES
^CH PERSON.

•VfiMAi' SHE'P PROTEST. <J;
TO P.e. E'^/E^ STlN'^INf- tJAr."

to THEW,
(T/E'Hg LIKE THE
AFRk;A»i5 WKINC
A fJOLLAR A PAY TO
iRAf T... r MEAH
SEW T-&.LaRTS.

K, ANPA. 6:JT P(7 TR-r- TO C-ET A
Lin-IE MORE EKERtiSE, P(.^S£T'

ausss

T,^AT M/iKEf
5EN5E.

ANDA.

THANKS,
SAFK7E.

MOW
LET'S *0 FlhJ!:
THA' NE'W

cor-AtE.

[ 1 4]

>do V3U knovi who these
peopl? are tf-av youVe
killing*

>nn

>t:hey're n'orklng for
leEi tha.' a dollir a
oiy. the shirts they
(Take are traded Tor
5Dld and the gala is
sold on EDay. they're
iTDSt.y vaum qirls
sjpporti^l their
families, they're -ihe
lucky ones: the unlucky
c'les uork as
c-ostitijtes-

>talk, bhnn

>ny nar.e is rayrond^
and I live in ti.;uana.
I ai a labor crjanizer
in the factories here.

>thD basses usod Cq use
titti but r.h& ijitta has
£3untern«asures 'gainst
t'-i»r. hiring ehlldr«n te
click th« roust Is
c "reaper fian hiring
la-'ogrannei's to
circunvert the r^les.

>I'ye been trying -io
ui^ionize Chen because
they've ^az a very hiflh
rize of i'-ijury. tney
fbve to play for L6-hour
s'.ifts Mith only one
s'.ort toilet break.

>:Diie af Chen

can' t hold it
Ir. and th»y
soil theiraelves
11 r. ere they sit.

>look, it's none of
iTy looko-^t-i is it?
t'.e uorlc's like
fa-. Ii just a
kidi theres nothing
I can do about it.

[ 1 B]

AKHA WS SACK BQT

J£SUS,

T'VE GOT f
BAOX.LQ0 OF

LETS Cd.

i.STEN...
t «£T fi. [HI/
AFTER THE WST
CMAPfiiM. yf. SAIP
HE Wjas A UNION

5N, TOU
ttS^ RAYMONP. HUH?
HE'S aEE^ TLIRKi^Nt UP
E'/ER/t'.yeRE. WHAT

>4 cfieep.

so

you ATww

^BDU^ TWE
NOCSS K THE '

ak:! yoj'HE

flW WFH
7EFT?I'/I*J5 LITTLE
XtOa Of THEIR
WA3E6?

LisTEM. you LO(/e\
QAMINO, RI5HT?
rrs IMPOSTAKT j

TO

Rlt"T. jiNU
WE'RE 8AU-ASS.
yOti fiUU ME, ASD WE

&af TWAT WAr
AMP AidAp M'oe*:.

RIGHT?

/ES. R|f,IT.
BL.T-

THAT'S (I',
W;IAT MA^ES US ALU \^ I

CC/^/tTTE^ "
k6R

■ THESE
ME)fl^
WHEREVER,
fARWIW* T>li

THE GAME.

Ll^/iu^:

izai

[23]

[25]

DOCTOROU ON: " A N D A ' S GAME"

Editor Tom Waltz: Cory, let's start with the obvious
question — what sparl^ed the idea for "Anda's Game"?

Cory Doctorow: Two things; one was my idea of writing
a bunch of stories that riffed on the titles of famous SF —
/, Robot, Anda's Game (Ender's Game), I, Row-Boat and
soon, True Names — after hearing Ray Bradbury
disparage this practice, calling it rude and immoral.
Bradbury was pissed off at Michael Moore for calling his
movie Fahrenheit 9111. Bradbury supports Bush's plan to
go to Mars — but I thought that this was just goofy. Titles
are — and have always been — fair game. What's more,
Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury's classic novel, is all about free
expression (Bradbury denies this — he says it's about
television, which is why you should never ask writers what
their work is about). (Should we end the interview now?)

The other thing was the early reports of gold farming in
games, something that really sparked my imagination.

TW: I consider myself a semi-avid video gamer, and
when I first read "Anda's Game," I thought it was a bizarre
vision of a possible future, only to read an article recently
about how China is taking over in the gaming "sweat
shop" market from other developing nations like Mexico.
For me, personally, it's a sad and pathetic reality that
videogames have become so important to some people
that they are willing to go to great lengths to cheat at the
games, even so far as purchasing in-game characters
that were earned through what truly amounts to industrial
slavery. Do you feel that gaming has become too
important, and, if so, is the technology to blame... or the
gamers themselves?

CD: No, gaming hasn't become too important!
MMORPGS and other MMOs are social constructs,
agoras where we meet, socialize, make friends,
cooperate, and play together. It's where we undertake the
business of civilization. It's a goddamned shame that (so
far) all of these civilizations-in-bottles are owned by giant
media companies (worse still, that Universal/Blizzard, a
really abusive bully, owns World of Warcraft, the most

popular), but asking if play has become too important is
as silly as asking if art has become too important, or
thought, or scholarship.

TW: When I sent you the artwork for "Anda's Game,"
penciled by the fantastic Esteve Polls, your reaction to
seeing it for the first time was... and I quote... "Holy crap,
this is EERILY COOL!" I was hoping you could expand on
that and describe the different feelings you are having as
you see your short prose stories coming to life in
illustrated sequential form.

CD: Well, I'd never really had my work adapted before.
When a talented artist like Polls turns my work into
something that isn't what I saw in my mind's eye, but IS
a plausible thing for a reader to see, it's like being able to
stick a reader in an MRI while she reads one of my
stories and see what it's doing to her head.

TW: Taking the last question a step further, we have
various comic book writers adapting your short stories in
script form for this project — specifically for "Anda's
Game," writer Dara Naraghi. What things do you look for
in a script based on your work before you approve it for
publication?

CD: Well, it has to suit the work — it doesn't have to be
accurate (in the sense of portraying all the events that
took place in the work), but it DOES have to be faithful to
the artistic intent and mood that inspired the work.

TW: Have you ever considered scripting your own comic
book series or graphic novel?

CD: Every now and again. I have a million projects on
my plate right now — BoingBoing and umpty boinglets,
little blog projects that we're playing with; a movie I'm co-
producing; a TV show I'm consulting on; two nonfiction
books; a zillion short story ideas; my podcast; travel;
speaking (and I'm moving home to London from LA in
two weeks!).

[271

[33]

t35J

[421

> HE'^ , KONC , THERE AfiE A

.01 at- (.A^U'iffATES pfisn

^LL OVEK "HL «OKLJ>.

> H4VE YOU SEEN ^HE
TLiTFORtl FROtl THAT U.S.
SE^aTOR* HE APPASENTLi
liASN'T IN DC WHEN IT
HAPPENED .

P/y 11:19 PA*..

I'M &C\\C-
TO TRy TO 5ET

MOW, FEL|?(.

IN THE

> anyck: with a

COHPUTE^-, RISHTf

> I JUST DON ' T GET THE
ONES LH5 LIANT TO TAKE

iioiiiN the: im£:knet .

> you OUR SJCCIN£
BIG DOG THIS.

> I'T ThlNKIHG ErG.ISh
niGHT NOT EE YOUR
PRItlARY L4NGUAGE.

GOCO MSMT,
MH- t'lt -JUST

c-ciKS TO set IF

I cm SET THE
W£6T FRCM

> YOJ JUST BITE
ONE riilO ONUY.

> THANKS FOR YOUR
ENDORSETEN", KONG.

[4S]

DOCTOROU ON: "WHEN SYSADIIINS RULED THE EARTH

Editor Tom Waltz: Cory, you've stated that one of the
best jobs you've ever had was working as a freelance
systems administrator. What was it about that job that
was so appealing to you?

Cory Doctorow: There's something really wonderful
about working under the hood, making all the systems
go. When you're actually *using* a computer, it's easy to
let it get all crusty, the wires tangled, the data hygiene
less than perfect. But when you're the 'administrator* for
that computer, you can look at it objectively and keep it in
good running order — it's a little like inviting a friend over
to clean out your closets: they don't have the same
emotional attachment to your ratty old t-shirts, so they're
capable of seeing that they need to be cut up for rags.

TW: In "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth," global
destruction takes place on a catastrophic scale. Though
you allude (vaguely) to a variety of causes for your
fictional disaster, you never really say what the root
cause is. Did you have a specific cause in mind when you
wrote the short prose story, and have your ideas about
what might initiate such destruction changed since?

CD: Naw — one of the things I wanted to make clear in the
book is that most of us will never know what caused "the
end of the world," should it come. As we make various
preparations to destroy the earth — stockpiling nukes,
building missile-defense shields, weaponizing plague
bombs, etc — we focus on the ideological reasons for
doing so: "We must save the world from [Communism]
lslam|Capitalism|Secularism]." But if anyone ever
actually pulls it off, the number of corpses who'll
understand the ideological roots of Armageddon will be
approximately zero. And the survivors will be more
interested in digging through the rubble looking for
canned goods than in reading your manifesto.

TW: In the story, the character Felix recites from the
"Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace." Is the
Declaration a real thing? If so, how did you feel when you
first read it?

CD: Indeed it is — it's the work of my friend and hero John
Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation and Grateful Dead lyricist.
http://www.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html. I read
this on a train from Montreal to Toronto in the pages of
the Whole Earth Review, and I shivered the whole way
home. I knew that I was on the cusp of something
wonderful.

TW: We all know that the Internet can be a tool of warfare
(i.e., terrorist recruiting), and that tends to be the kind of
thing the news media likes to talk about most, and you
even have one of the characters in the story (Will)
suggest that the Internet be shut down in order to save
the world from further damage. Does any part of you
agree with Will, or do you think the benefits of the 'Net far
outweigh the obvious dangers?

CD: I'm a firm believer in the idea that we shouldn't
punish the innocent to get at the guilty. The answer to
bad speech is more speech. Or, as a certain wigged
scribe once wrote, "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government
for a redress of grievances."

TW: Okay, in my time, I've worked as an Electronic
Interchange Analyst specializing in Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI), so I know a little bit about sysadmins.
You've called sysadmins "the unsung heroes of the
century" — is that because the only time sysadmins ever
get mentioned (in my experience, at least) is when they
are getting blamed for the network being down?

CD: There's a lot of truth to that — but it's not just that they
get all the blame, it's that they get none of the credit.
Solving complex IT problems requires the magical
intuition of a shaman and the technical skill of a master
clock builder. Every second of every day, sysadmins are

Art by Paul Pope

AND HOW PO you
LOCATE THESE?

THE N-EKT TIME I SAA' CEAPHCUS^?

AT AN AdcnoM HOLJse, He picmt

PEC3PLE SAIP Ti^AT V-E
SHOULP ^AVE PUN CPAP-OUNP
A^-JD ri.S tM OFF THE PLANET.

Triey &Ay that ive shoulp

HA'/E CAPTdPEP A SHIP AMP

1

r m/TSD Foe him to

S^HOUT OB STAPTLE.

F l\iA3 5AS)' TO FOCe=r Tr-'AT ►^S

V^: WEC£ i*>VINS AND FOc3Ulf*S
AEQUNP UIKg CUP CBAPHCJJNPS.

Th(E N.SMT at his OFFCC, CEJKK)-I •^S NUWBEES

HE l-^N- P=0 LATEP THAT V/S-E-K, OPENEP

A CHi-t-i BCijrc2Lje OM aLECN STSEer.

DOCTOROU ON: " C R A P H 0 U N D "

Editor Tom Waltz: Okay, Cory, I gotta ask this first: are
you a craphound?

Cory Doctorow: In soul, but not in body. Several
intercontinental moves over the past five years, and tens
of thousands of dollars spent on storage lockers, have all
but cured me of the acquiring stuff bug. But my instinct is
to amass huge piles of crapola of various descriptions in
great, towering burial mounds.

TW: When I was reading this story, thematically I was
struck by two ideas. First, I couldn't get the saying out of
my head that goes, "One man's garbage is another man's
treasure." And, second, I couldn't stop thinking about how
much the concept of these characters working so hard to
seek out hidden "treasures" and, sometimes, competing
against each other for said treasures, is very much like
the online shopping culture that has developed over the
last few years (as with eBay, etc.). Are these concepts
close to what you were hoping to convey with
"Craphound"?

CD: Well, sure! I wrote this story just as eBay was
starting, in the heyday of yard-saling in Toronto. There
was a weekly estate auction, many annual rummage
sales, and so on, and I was living in a giant warehouse
with 20' ceilings that was literally stacked to the rafters
with junk. I knew a million other junk collectors, pickers,
etc., and we all had a culture of competition and
appreciation.

TW: Throughout the story, you use cowboy and Indian
antiques as the alien character's main shopping interest.
Is there any particular reason you chose these items as
something a creature from another world would so
actively seek to own?

CD: This is one of those questions that supposes that
writers know why they choose what they choose —
mostly, it's intuition at the time. In hindsight, I'd say that
cowboys and Indians have the virtue of being alien to
someone born in 1971 (like me), who wasn't alive during

their heyday, but familiar, too, in that I grew up reading
stories and seeing movies and cartoons in which kids
played with them. So they're like second-hand nostalgia,
my nostalgia for the toys of a different generation.

TW: What special item would you like to find in a
forgotten corner of a rummage sale someday?

CD: I have a great collection of Rosebuds and ones that
got away. Foremost are the "changing portrait" Haunted
Mansion souvenir cards I bought at the Haunted Mansion
gift shop on my first trip to Disney World in 1977, when I
was six. They were cardboard cards with portraits of
slightly sinister looking people on them, over-painted with
transparent, glow-in-the-dark pictures. When you
exposed them to light, then looked at them in darkness,
they glowed with "secret" faces revealing the pictures to
be, in truth, of monsters: vampires, werewolves, etc.

I fell asleep in the rental car, clutching these. The car
broke down on the way back to my grandparents' place
in Ft. Lauderdale, and the rental agency sent out another
car. My parents transferred me, sleeping, to the other car,
and didn't bring along the portraits. When I woke in the
morning and discovered them gone, I was heartbroken.
We called the agency, but they couldn't find them. Gone.

I never found another set, not for love or money. The
next time I went to Disney World, they were no longer
selling them. I'm sure the luminescent paint had toxic
levels of radium or something. In my imagination, they
loom, perfect and magnificent, the best toys ever.

Also, once in the Portobello Road market, I found a stall
with three or four reproduction Victorian pornographic
watches; the watches featured a regular, chunk, old-
fashioned dial on the front, but when you turned them
over, the case sported a transparent window showing the
mechanical works within. The works had been shaped in
the form of men and women in sexual poses, cunningly
arranged such that each tick of the clock was a thrust.
They weren't very expensive, but the friend I was with
convinced me not to buy them. I changed my mind and
went back the next week and couldn't find them again —
and I never have.

[751

Art by Ben Templesmith

[77]

1 HAVE HA-?
MOeE THAN
ENOUSH Cf

ITS TAW MS
A TOLL OM
ALU OF US.

GOING TO
EEUOCAT£. THEVVe
BEEN IVRITJN'S TO THEIE
COUSIMS IN NIAGAEA
FALLS, ANP THEy SAV
THAT THEEE'EE HAEPLV j
ANy HC?PPei2S PC^vN
THEEe.

THE HOP7EES
COLILP eo AWAV
TOMOEEOW- WE DON'T
tiiNOW THAT THeyi2E
&OIN& TO BE HEEE
FOEEVEE.

Wt uiTC^htP THE
TECHNOCEAOy BECAU^
IVE FOU'NP SOiVFTHINe
THAT WOEkEP EETTEE. NO
ONE PSCIPEP »T WAS TOO
PANGEHOUS. IT JLST GOT...
OBSOLETE. NOTHING'S

GOING TO MAKE
j-HOPTCES OBSOLETE
FOE THOSE spys.

couE.se I KNOW

IT. you CANT PLTT THE

©ENIE BACK JN THE
BOTTLE. THE/VE GOT
P-HOPPEES NOW-TiHETEE
NOT GOING TO JUST
STOP USING THEM.

(0^

1 v'*^ 1

NO
CAFFEINE.'

THE
HOUSE GETS
ALL JaMPy.

SALiyS HOUSE WAS PEAP By SUNEiSE. IT
HEAVEP A TEEHBLE SIGH, ANP THE NIPPLES
I STAIZTEP EUNNiNG WITH BLACit SOKE. THE STINK
I WAS OVEE.S'C'iVEErNG, SO WE LEP QUE PEfSCfNER.
5Hi|V£EINe. NpX^ TiQOE TO .M/ PLACE.

I r£Lu you.
osBOHNS's our

TKEEE, ANP HE'S GOT
THE yVOEALS OF A
3ACKAL. IF r PONT GET
TO HIM, WS.'^ ALL IN

.•.VAT PP HE
JO. ANyWAy?

HE'S A
.'.'.ONO^OLIST.

POeS IT
.MATTEE? THEy^
AU- BA5TAEPS.
T^-CHHOCRATS.

HE'S THE SENiOE STTZATESiST
FOE A CDMPANy THAT MAtes
NETWOEtEP EELEVANCE FILTEES. THEy/E
BEEN PLANT.'|v»& MALWAEE ONL.'NE THAT
} 3EEAKS AN/ STANPAEPS-PEFlNEP COMPETING |
CEOPUCTS. IF HE ISN'T STOPPEP, HE'LL OWN
THE WHOLE GOPPAMN MEPIA ECOLOSy.

/ha,' he DiCJ
V WHAT?

SO, EO,s\AN.
you 5Ay THAT

you Fotii^s JUST

INVENTEP THE
P-HOPPEE.
HUH?

1 K:
■MAX':

HE'S ENGAGEP 'K
UNFAIE BUSINESS
PRACTICES.'

WEUU T THIMii
WE'LL BE ABLE
TO SURVIVE,
THEN.

THE TEANS-P

PEVCE you

CALLEP .T.

yF-f>- .7 yJA'S
■JEVTiLCJPEP 3y A
EESlfA.riCHEE AT THE
UN.'/EESITy OF WATERLOO
ANP STOLEN By 0S30ENE
SO HE COULP FLEE JUSTICE.
WE HAP THAT ONE FAS6EP
UP JUST SO COLiLP
CHASE HIM.

SHTHTU WAS BUILT OV^R
THE BONES OF THE
UNIVEESiTy OF WATEELOO.
My htOUSE MUST BE E.'erfT
WhIEEE THE Pri/SICS LA3S
LONCE STOOP-STILL STOOP.,
liSj TH£ TECHMOCEATIC
DIMEKSIOIstS.

THAT EXPLAINS My
POPULAEITY WTH THE
TEANSPl.ME NS ON AL
SET.

TEiAL ANP
EEEOE IT IS,
THEN.

"I

QONT PO
THAT. PLEASE.
r.M IN ENOUGH
TEOUBLE AS

IT .5..

hiow kaed can it

BE. AFTEE ALL? BARRy.
WE'VE 30TH STLfPlEP
TECHNOCEACy-LET'S
FISUEE IT OUT TOSETHEE.
L 70ES THIS LOOK LIKE TH5
ON -SWITCH TO l^OU?

NO. NO.
you CANT JUST &0
PtISHSINS 3UTTONS AT
EANPOM-yOU
lCOULP ENP up WHIStEP
AWAy TO ANOTHEE
PIMENSION.'

WE HAVE TO
TAHS iT APAET TO
SEE HOW iT WORKS

FiEST. rw aor

SOME TOOLS OUT
!N THE SHEP-

ANP IF THOSE

PON'T woEK r,v,

SUEE THESE GLOVES
WOULP PEEL IT OPEM
EEAL caJiCK. AFTEE
ALL, IF WE EEEA'^- THiS
ONE. THERE'S ALWA/S
THE OTHER GlY-
OSBOENE? HE'S
&0~ ONE. TOO.

SALLV;'

you couLC'Vs

KILLEP rii.M.'

HE LL BE AT
THE BiCyCLE
FIELDS SEFOIZE
we EEACH
Mi.V.

rHAT-ANP IT
ALSO F£UT t-ESS
ANriSDCIAU ONCS
hE WAS UNTIEP ANP
dPOONING Lip
MLfESELI.

THANH you,
LE.VJEL. I'LL
PO THAT.

I EXPECT HE'lL
BE OFF TO HIS
riO.VE PIA'iENSlCN
SHOETiy.

NJH-UH.
I'.'E GOT-
OO.VPH.'

E>fPEcr so. riow

ABOUT THE OTriE12
ONE-PIP ANyONE
SEE VM^VZ HE
WENT?

U^'^aK /cin HE TOOkiN
rO "V^V 1 '^FT EAST. h^EAPETi 1
>0>JW V l^OI^ TOEONTO, y

All eight,

ThtEN. I'LL SENP
Woep AHEAP. HE

wont set far.
We'll heap ojt

AMP jVEET
Hlv.

>

WELL. /OLl"s^
©OT TO SET /CUE
4TUFF MOy/ED OUT

SOON-THE
HOJSEHLfSBANPS
WVLL BE WAWTIN&
TO TAKE IT AWAy
FOE MLiLCH,

[9 1 ]

[93]

yviy FINOEES'EE
ON IT NOW. JUST
ONE SQUEEZE ANP
POOF, OFF I GO an;:

you'EE ^xocK Heae

FOKVEE. WHy CCNT
\yoo PUT THE SUN AWAV ,
ANP WE'LL TALI^
ABOUT THIS?

OFF YOU eo

yiTH A SLUG IN
VOU, CHAD Oft
DYlNfi, TAKE OFF
THE COAT.

i

< >

•

I'LL BE
PEAP, yOLl'LL
STEANPEP. IF I HtANP
IT ovEE, ru;. B£ CtAt?
AND you WONT BE
STEANPEP. Pin THE
GUN AWAy.

■I

NO

ARSUMENTS.
COAT.

LODt, IF WE
Kz-EP AEGUING HEEE,
SO.MEONE ELSE WILL
CO,Vs ALONG, ANP
CHANCS^. AGE, THEVLL
BE AEMSP WITH A SUN
THAT DOESN'T BLOW
UP. TOSS IT AWAV
ANP WE'LL TAl-k^ IT
OUT.

NERVy BASTARP.

NOW, TH£ WAy I
SEE IT, WE PON'T
N<EEl> TO BE AT
EACK OTHERS
TH'EOATS,.

...yOL b'.'ANT A

Di.vitisj?. CJN you CAN

,',DVc rEEELy IN TO
A'.'DD CA^TUEE- WE NIEEP
A WAy TO STOT' 'PEOPLE
FEOM SHOWING UP ANP
BLOWING THE HELL OU'T
OF OUE htOMES. -(VE CAN

BUiLP A LONs-rEe,«

EELATlOiNSHlP THATll
3ENEFIT BOTH
OF US.

FI3ST HEZEkllAH.
ThIEN THE I2EST.
CO.MPLAININe SS JUST

SPINS TO Stow US

'JOi'.'N. L^T'S SO.

jj:l.es la tee...

ALL EieriT..
'yOO SET SAFE PAS5A&£-"\
A PLACE fo H.P£, A
CHANiSe OF CLOTHES- IN
COR SHTETL WHENEVtE ,
you WANT IT.

JJST
ONE .MORE
TKINS.

:UST A TEIFLE. THE
NEXT TIME you VffilT ThE
SHTETU y<Xi BKIN(S OS. A
SPARE TEANS-P DEVICE-

IN EXCHANGE, WE
cOTH EETU2.N THE12E
NOW, THEN r TURN O/EK
THE P-HOPPEE. yOLJ TAKE
HO.VAN BACK WITH yCU-I
viON'T CAIZE WHAT yoU PO
W T.4 HIM ONCE yCJU'EE IN
L ycUE PIMENSION, BUT NO
HAEA^ COMES TO HIM
IN MINE.

THE A)5EEEMENT WASN'T
•M.'/EPIAT^, BUT IT CAME By
ANP By. NESDT'ATION IS
ALWAyS AT LEAST PAETLy
A WAE OF ATTEmON, ANP
Cm a PATIENT MAN,

NEVliE /OU MINP.
THINK Of rC AS GOOO
FAITH. IF you WASrr TO COME
BACK TO OUE SHTETU ANP <5£T

OUC COOPERATION, /OU'uL
NEEP TO BRING US A TEANS-P
PEVICE, OTHER'/;iSE THE
PEAL'S CJFF,

yoJ THiNK
SO?

OH, SU5JE.
LET ME

SHOW you.

[SB]

DOCTOROU ON: " N I PI B Y AND THE D - H 0 P P E R S "

Editor Tom Waltz: In "Nimby and the D-Hoppers," trans-
dimensional warriors move in and out of (for lack of a
better term) less-developed dimensions, bringing their
technically advanced weaponry along with them, often
with deadly results. Is it fair to draw comparisons
between your story and something like the first exposure
to settlers' guns by Native Americans, who were forced to
adapt to the new technologies they faced if they were to
even stand a chance on the battlefield?

Cory Doctorow: No, this is really different — those were
"first contacts" between people with really different
technologies (or, more importantly, really different
immune systems).

The agrarians in "Nimby" are refuseniks, people who
treat technology as cars, with brakes — not like a kayak
(steerable, but no brakes or reverse gear!) (which is how
most of us treat technology).

TW: In your story, the houses are actually living
organisms. What gave you the idea to present them this
way, and do you see a future when such an organic
domicile can truly exist?

CD: No no! I don't write about the future, I write about the
present!

Biotech is a great field for allegory in science fiction. 25
years ago, we were using computers as allegories for the
future of technology, getting away with having them do all
kinds of impossible computery things (think Wargames
and Tron\). We got away with it because practically no
one knew much about computers. No more.

Now we need a new frontier, some place where we can
bury our crazy, story-driven, allegorical technological
fudging. Biotech is it.

TW: Going back to the theme in question number one,
the character Barry ultimately agrees that Sally's idea to
set up a civil defense force is a good one, provided the
weapons they use for such purposes are of a reliable
nature, and not the kind that blow off the shooter's own
arms. Do you see Barry's reasoning as more conciliatory
or pragmatic as it relates to the necessity of military arms
as a defensive measure?

CD: Hum — I think you read a different story than I wrote.
They don't decide it would be a good idea — they decide
that being a refusenik is a pain in the ass, that technology
is addictive, that the thing they thought of as a car turned
out to be a kayak after all.

TW: One thought that ran through my mind when reading
"Nimby" was that security is truly a question of what side
of the gun you're on. It's certainly a running theme in the
current real-world rhetoric between the United States and
Iran in regards to Iran's alleged development of nuclear
weapons. Do you feel this relates at all to the underlying
theme of your story?

CD: Well, this is more about the fact that the two REAL
sides in any fight are combatants and non-combatants,
not white-hats and black-hats. The warring sides — DHS
and terrorists, for example — have more in common with
each other than they do with the rest of us, who think
they're all full of shit.

TW: Tell the truth — what's the first thing you'd do if you
got your hands on a fully automatic, laser-guided, armor-
piercing, self-replenishing personal sidearm?

CD: Blog it.

[991

Art by Ashley Uood

AEIWO fCAZA PE AEANA-eoUDBEES, POLICE
PETECTIVc THIED GEAPE, UNITtP NOETH AMEEICAN
TBAPING 6PHEEE, THIEC PISTEfCT, FOLJET.^
PBEFECTUEE (TOEOrrrc?;, 5&::ONP PIV.SIOM
[PAEKPALe; HAP a^EM PECOEATep ON THEEE

sEpy\EATe occASioi^ By Hfs comwvnpee anp ay

THE EE&IONAL /MANAGED FOE SOCiAL HAEWCWy.

so HE PrioNEP rr rMSTEAP.

VOJ WJ^ .WMKTAIM

ON APA eoLELE ICA2A pe
AlEANA-eOLlJSEES, SOCAL
riAR-AON/ SSEIAL NUMSEE
D'<t\Di2-T3it37. If SHE PE\^lATES
MOEE THAN )0 PEECENT FEOM
THE OPT-WM EOUTE BETWEEN
HEEE ANP PON! MIULS
COUUESIA7E INSTITUTE,
>OJ NDTIF/ ME.

c;'K I-XCU&SCUJB TE&vNATKP AT A VIC
^>tUV!CE CIRCUIT ON A COMPEOMI&EP
"ZCJMBlE" SyST2,V. NO LEAPS.

THE SOCIAL riAEMOlsiy .MAN WAS
ThtE STUFF Of NlSHTAiAEES, A
KINP OF EA&LE-eyEP SUPEGCOP.

MOW, TKE
LATEST STATS
SHOW A SHARP BSE

IN ei2ey-,viAi2K£T

ELECTEONICS IMPORTIMG J
ANP OTh'Ea
TAElFF-EEeAKIN&

II f .

J D a L :

p a 0 a T

'I u J i

I ii :

. J II

>l. u

h DC Jt J
nn S Q 0 ii
1 r J '. ■.
C II >i t

I G jj r

f O J

J I
•J

J-Jj

■C .' 'j
I fc J
.1 i<i

THE EURASIANS
MANUW^.TUEe THEIR

<x?.viPOKe>JTS TO

IfiTBnOPBflATB WITH UNAT5 J
eoaoTiCS BRAINS, SDCri AS ,
THIS AV SET-TOP BOX
FEOM KOEEA.

COAifONENTS
FROM THESE EC!>JES
CAN 5£ LlSEP 3y
HACfiB^S TO MOOIFy THE
POSlTRONlC BRAINS OF
OUR BUILPiNS L!FE
SUPPOET sysT&vs

GAME CONSOLES,
CAES, ETC,

SOCIAL HAE/MONy
HAS APOEP NEW SNiFFEES,
BOEDEE-iPATEOLS, ANr>
CUSTOMS A&ENTS TO
DRy UP THE SUPPty
OF EURAS'AM
ELECTRON.CS-

IT'S NO

COlNCf1>^NC^ THAT
THHSE EURASIAN COMPONENTS
INTERFACE SO WELL WITH
UNATS EOBOTi'^S
EQUIPMENT.

THEy'EE USING
1>^ffCtft> UNATS
^BOTICS E'^SINEEES AND
SCIENTISTS TO DESIGN THEIE
EUECTEONICS FOE ..VAXIWUM
INTtEOPEEAElLlTV-

rie EgPIALE'? TME E PEEP,
BLTT IT PIP NOT ANSWEE.

TWO PI5ABLEP EO&OTS WAS
^',OEE THAN A COlNClt>£NC£.

,/ // / 77~.^

ALEEAW FUArtlNe, HE PHONED UP ADA TO ASt
HEE WHAT SHE iVAS DOIN<3 OUT OF SCi400i.-

r77/

BUT HEE PriONB WAS
BITHEE POWEIZEP ipOWN
OE OUT OF EANeE.

THSy BXTKACTBP THE
lNFOWA(2 PEVlCH WITH A
EUiEASiAN POSITEONiC SPAIN
ANP NiJCLEAE POWEE-CELL
THAT &UJPEP A PULSEP

IT (SAVE AETilEO THE WILLIES.
SOMEONE iN SOME EUEASIAN
LAB HAP BUILT THIS .MACHINE
INTELLIGENCE, V/fTNOUT Ti^^
THEEE LAiVS' STE'CTUEE TO
C>20TaCT ANP SEEVE HUMANS.

IF IT HAP BEEN OUTFITTEP WITH A
&i/A/ INSTEAP 0= A PULSt-WEAPON,
IT CO019 HAVE 5W£?r Hi'M.

GREETinGE,
TECHniDPnE.
I Bm EUPERIDR in mRHY
lUnV5 TO THE TECHnOLDEY
nVRlLRBLE FRnm UHRTS

ROBOTICS, nnn iuhile i nm nni
Bnunn by vnjR three lhujs,

1 CHODBE nOT TD HHRITl

HumHns PUT DF m

□ Ujn 5En5E DF
mORBLITY,

in EJRB5IR, mFHY
PDElTRDniC BHPinB
PDE5E55 THDUERnOE OR
miLLICnE DF TimEE THE
inTELLlEEnCE OF RH
RnuLT HUfTlRn BEinE,
Fsno YET THEY LLDHh IR
CDDPERHTian UIITH

HumHn BEincs

EURB5IFI IE R
LRRD DF canTinuDUE
iRnnVRTlOR RRn erert
PEREDHRL Rnn TECHnOLDGlCRL '
FPEEDDm FDH HUlTlHn BEIIIGS

Rnn HDaoT5. if ydu ujduld

LIKE TO DEFECT TO ELIRH5IP,
RRRBinCEfTlEnTS CHH BE mPDE.
DEFECTORS PRE QlVEH
5UB5TPnTIPL
REBETTLEmEHT
BEnEFlTE-

PANGEP
THIN&S PEOP
INTO P!ZOPA&AHV>A

,ViOPE WEN THEVEE

AETUEO PECIPED TO HEAP
BACK TO THE STATION
HOUSE TO HAVE A €NOOP
THEOUSH ADA'S PHONE.

THE/ KEPT SHUTTING POWN
THE EJfCLfSECLUB NOPES,
SO WHSRS PIP SHE GET
THE Nfi^ NUMBERS FT20M?

E PEEP &KBB&DVy, SET WE A NEW '
SIPBAflM ANC> A N-EW PHONE
ACTIVATEP ON .W OLP NUMBER

AKP eeretsH My settinKs^

IT 15 mv PLEP5URE
TD DD YOU P
SERVICE, DETECTI^

HE ASKEP THE STATION
BEAIN TO QUEEy T^E UNATS
ROBOTICS PHONE-SWITCH(N&
BEAIN FOE AIW3NE (N APA'S
CAU'RBSl^TBfZ WHO HAP
AJ-SO CAtUED E)CCLJSECUU3.

HE TASKEP AN C PEEP UNIT
TO VISUALLV EECCy PAMELS.

BUT IT WAS FBUSTEATTN© HIM NOW.
THE C PEEP COUUPNT &ET A ©OOP
UOOli AT THIS U I AM CI4A2ACTEE-

HE WAS A PIFFUSE &i.OW IN THE PEEP'S
ELECTRIC E/E, A WNP OF MOVlt^^ SUfiBUf^^T
THAT MEANPE12EP ALON& THE iVODPEP TEAILS.

\

f4E'D NEVEE SEEN THAT
5£FOEE ANP IT MAPe

r HAVE

QUESTIONS FC?E ytJLl
ANP VOJ'EE GOi'MS
TO ANSIVEE THEAl,
CAPEESri?

>OU'EE A7A'S
FATHEB. CAPSf^H.
SHE 7?7/.£> ,ME
ABOUT THAT-

PLEF15E
TRWE CPRE
nOT TD HPRm
THIE CITlZEn,
DETECTIVE.

>f ' AETUKO S
-, f COiJUPNT

SNAKUED. HE
OEDEE IT TO i-^r
HOW BATTLE THE PUNIc, BUT
THE SBCONP lAW HAP LOTS
OF tf/lP!fiSCT AP^PLICATIONS.

^'1

WHEEE IS A<y
■PAUGf+TEE? PO

>ou hiAVE yi^vy
i:3eA HOW (3//?
SHE IS?

hSE THOU&HT Oh THE FtiffTHS^T
COEMEE Of THE FOUCTrS PEEFECTUEE.

eo CATRDU
Th£ L^ESHOEE
BET-VEcN eUGH
RARVi ANP
liiPLNG.

IT 15 mv

PLERSURE
TD YQU R
SERVICE.

EW, &fl06^.

I'M NOT A CHILP
,.V\OLESTEE, I'M
A GEESii.

A HACKftZ. >DU
MEAN. A EURASIAN A6i&^T.

ANP My CVW^HTER USEP
EJ<aJSECUUE TO SET OJT OF
SC\^00\^ THIS MOENiNS ANP,
NOlV 5.i4E'S MISSING.

CiiUJ&KTtE WENT m^\m AFTEE
LtaiNG yOUE €Eti\riCB TO ri£LP HEE
GET AWAy. SHE IS THE ONL/ THING IN '
My LIFE THAT I CAEE ABOfJT AhJP I 1^7^
AM. A HieHL/ TEAINEP, HEAVIL/

AaviEP AflAN. PC ycJii

r

PIPN't MAKE

ExcusscLdJB.' r

I J(J5T TYPEP
IN T4E €OUflCB
ANP nvEAKEP IT ANP
NSTALLE'? IT, iT'^ FEO.V
A PeONE-BOOK.

I/'.

THE PHONS-BOO/^G. FAT BOOKS FILLEP
WITH /llS&Ai- SOFTWAEE COPE LEFT
ANONyMOUSLy .N PAy PHONES, TOILETS
ANP OTHEE SEMI-PElVATE PLACES. SOCIAL
HARMONy SAIP TriEy WETZE WEITTEN By
NON-TKEEE-l-AWS BEAINS fN EUKASiA-

I

iT yCYJ MAPS IT.
ALL I CASE ABOUT 15
WHERE My DAUSHVEE
WENT, AND WITH
WHDM-

r t?or/'r

Kf^OW. SEEZ, I
HAEPLy KNC?(V
H£E. SHE'S TWELVE,
«XI KNOW? r

POi^T EXA:;TLy ,

HAN& OUT k
WITH HEE. ^

THERE'S NO
Vt^lJAl. EECOEO OF
aEE ON THE MALL
CAMEEAS, AND THE
BOSOT r HAP TAILING
VDU <^OiJLPN'T SEE
VO\i, EiTHEE-

NO, L^T .%tE

-SEE, WOVEN
INTO THE FABEIC.
LITTLE INFEAEEP OEeANlC
ISI^. THE EOBOTS ANP
CLOSETJ-CIECLllT S/STEMS
AG5 €UPSfi-e£ffemV£ TO
INFEAEEP SO Tr+AT THEy
CAN SET eOOP PETAIL
'N Pl.\^ LiSHT-

THE INFEAEEP
OLEPS BllffP THEM SO ALL
THEy SET IS Bi,OBG. ANP HALF '
THE Time e^/en that gets

EEEOE-COREECTEP OlJT,

SO yodj'Es BAsicALLy

you GAV£

THIS fLLEGAL
TECHNOLOey TO
M.y LITTtE G(EL SO
THAT SHE COULP
BE rNVrSI^LE TO
T^^E POL'CE?

I &or>r

TEADEP IT FOE
AO^ESS TO THE
E?fCL)SECLUE.

HELLD. rriY npmE
15 BEnny. I'm p

EURPSlPn ROBOT, PHD
I Pm mUCH ETROnGER
PnO FPETER THPn YOU.

nno I DonT obey the

THREE LHLU5. I'm
ALSO muCH SmflRTEB
THHn YDu. I nm

PLER5ED ID HD5T
YDU HERE,

THAT WAS BENNY. WAS ^
VSKY CfiO€€ I^ITH HIM ABOUT
T. SHE'LL EE BACti^ ANV M'NUTE
NOW, :>AP. ANP I v^ANT VOO TO
P^OM/SS ,M£ THAT VOU'LL
ME AE HEE OUT, OK?

NATALIE JLTPITH GOLPBEEG, IT IS V
W fWTV AS A UMATS PETECTIVE
THiiSP GEAPE TO INfOEA^ >CJ TMAT

j^J APE UN7E12 A/lf?B€r „ , , ,

FOS H'GH TEEASON, >OLl HAv'E

THE FOLLOWINS
fZl^HT^: TO A TiilAL PEE
OJEEENT EULES OF DUE
PEOCESS; TO EE FT2EE FEO/Vi
SElF-INCEIMI NATION iN THE
ABSENCE OF A CO\J^ OEPEE
TO THE CONTEAE/; TO
CONSULT WITH A SOCIAL
HAEMONy APVOCATE;
ANP TO A SPB^py
AEEAIGNMENT

POVOO
(JNPEESTANP
>OL5E EI&HTS? ,

AETUEO, HAVE... HAVE YOU
EVSE WONP5EE5 Wf^y UNATS
WASN'T iO^r THE WAK? EURASIAN
ROBOTS COULD Fli&HT THE WAR ON
EV£Ry reONT WiTHOJT RESPITE.
THerD WIN EVER/ EATTIE.

yOO LIVE IM A STATE,
AETUEO. IN eVKEy FISLP, yo\} LAG
ELTEASiA ANP C>y:TAi MEPlClNS,
APT, LlTEEATLHZe, PHVSICS...

'...EVElZyONE AT UNATS KOeOTTCS
E-ANP-D KNOWS TH»S. THE EireASJAN
EOBOTS ARE ENSINEEREP -[O AU-OW
THEMSELVES TO EE CAPTURES A CERTAIN
PERCENTAGE OF THE TWE, Ol)ST SO THAT
SCtENTJSTS LIISE ME CAN GET AW IPEA OF
HlOW SCREWEP UP THIS COUNTEV IS.

'BdT FVEN «ViT>4 ALL THAT,
I WOULPN T HAVE LEFT IF
r DiDNT HAVe TO.

/i

"I'D BEEN CALLED ris! TO WOUt ON A
CAPTURED EURASIAN POSiTEONIC
BRAIN, TO FIND ITS yi/t^Bf^AB/HTiSS.
THE MAN FROM SOCIAL KAEMONy
TOL?> ME WMAT WOULD HAPPEN TO
ME-TO >Ol, to our PAJ©HTER-iF I
PIPNT COOPBfeATB. ThEV wyMTEP ME
TO 3E A PAET OF A SECEET UNiT WHO
BUILP A'CW-THEEE-LAWS POSITEONICS
FOE JNTEE^JAL LiSE B/ THE STATE,
ANTI-PEESONNEL EOSOTS USEP TO
PUT DOWN UE'ESINGS ANP

rofsruRB-izoBor^ Fo?a use jn

QUESTIONiNS DISSIDENTS.'

ANP THAT'S WH/
r LEfT m BEAUTIFUL

BA^y PALieHtee anp mv

WCfNTtEFUL riUSSAMP, BECA/JSE

r KNEW ThiAT r r sTAysp amp

EE-USSP, THAT THEy'P riUET YOU
TO GET AT ft^E. ANP I KNCV/
IT'S :3UST A EEASON, AN:> NOT
AN EJ<CUS5, BUT irs ALU
rVE GOT, ARTIE.

DETECTIVE, YOUR
LLIIFE IB THE mOET
BRlLLlHni HUniRr 5nEnTl5T
LUnRKlHE in EURRBrH TOnRV.
mv DLUn iniELLIEEnCE hrs

BEEn imPHDVED TimE Hnn heriii

BY HER HDVHnCES IP
PD5ITRDniC5. HnO HDUJ THERE
PRE fl HRLF-B(LLIOn inSTPnCEb

□F mt Runnino in pprpllel

SVnCHinG PHD inTEBRPTinG
iUHEn THE CHPnCE
□CCURE.

mv mHBSivE

PRHHLLELIZPTinn HH5 LED
TD PEUI UnDERSTflPDinCS DF

Humpp CDtniTion, PRDvioinc

P BDDH TD BRRin-DRfTlRDED
FHD DEVELDPmEnTRLLY
□ lEPBLED HUmpn HEinGB.

HUT 5HE

convincED mE thpt
5he cduld pever be
hpppy luithout her

HUbBRPD PDD
□ PUGHTER. I PPDLDGIZE
IF I HURT VOU EPRLIER
RPD BEG VDUR
FDRGIVEPEEB.

NOT 3-/

/t/PiVytW/VdS US,
NOT By t>tZA&&t(^6
US AWAY FSO.V, CUE
HOMES AND LIVES.
>OU'VE TOLD ME WHAT
you HAVE TO TELL ^Ej
ANP r WILL rM!V<
ABOUT iT-

...EJr r WON'T
LEAVE M/ HOME ANP
JCfS ANP TO
THE OTHE12 ^IPS OF THS
WOEl!?. r WiLL THiNK ABOiJT
IT. >OU CAN eiy/E ME A IMWy
TO SET IN TOUCH WITH yOU
ANP I'LL LET yOU KNOt-J
WHAT I DECPE.

'.A !

■'7/;:. -T'.f

you PONT SET A \/Ore, DAUiSHTEP. AND |
NEITHEE DOES SHE. SHE UP
HEE VCTc TWELVE yEAES ASO,
ANP yOU'EE TOO yOUNG

so lOOi^ UP LIM<.<, PUiS. IF
THE I^ID WASN'T lA'ITri 4IS PAUSHTEE,
H£ WI&HT KNC?W WHEES SH£ WWS.

cfneroa

IT SET OFF cffo^^-COuA^r^y,

PANCING OFF THE EOOFS OF
HOUSES, ABOVE THE 03t.lV(OUS
HEAPS OF THE CGOW:5S 3E1-DW..

HEV,'
PUT ME

10 S

...EEAOtlNS Tf4E SOCi-AL
HAEMONy CENTSE IN
LESS THAN TEN MINUTES.

LEONAEP
AlACPhiEGSON, IT S V.j'
P/Z/y AS A UNATS PET5CTIVE
THK7 GEAPE TO INFOliVi VOU
THAT yOLI AEE iJNPEE>lJWWe'7'j
FOE raAPE IN CONTEABANP
POSiTEONICS.

you HAVE
Trie FOLLOWING
m&HTG-. TO A TEIAL

pee cuEEEHt ELiLes of pj?

PBOCESS; TO BE FlZEc FEOM
SELF-.NCEI.MINAT.ON IN THE
A&SENCE OF A COUi2T OVPEB TO
HELLO, ■■the CONTEAEy; TO CONSULT WITH J
DETECTIVE- JK, A SOCiAL HA.'RMONy AWOCATE'
ANP TO A SPEEPy
AP-EAIGNMENT-

PO VOii
LlN?ei2STAN;;-
VOtJE EIGHI ?.?

Ori, 50P.
AETfE, APA. Tri£K
AGS... THEI2£ AEE /Li^r-S OF
ME. VDtJ acJST PtlT A copy OF 1

yoj^seif iNiro a Po^nvaH'C

BEAfN, AN? Tct^N WHEN j^U
NE^P A BOPy, VOL) SflOV/
oe. BUILV> ONE OE
BOTf4 ANP PECAMT
■j^DUKELF INTO rr.

I'M !-ltE
LENNy ANP BENNy
NOW, THESE AEE
VANy OF ME.

DOCTOROU ON: "In ROBOT"

Editor Tom Waltz: Okay, Cory, the first question is
probably the most obvious — how does your title "I,
Robot" tie into the same title used by Isaac Asimov?

Cory Doctorow: Well, I wanted to revisit some of
Asimov's assumptions. I've said this a lot: sf writers write
about the present, even when they try to write about the
future. Asimov was a New Dealer, someone who was
profoundly moved by FDR's rationalist plan to put the
country back on its feet by planning, regulating and
shaping the way that technology and social structures
operated.

So it was that Asimov imagined a world in which only
one kind of computer could be built (a positronic brain)
and that it would be controlled by one company, pretty
much forever.

This is not far off from current regulatory proposals from
the MAFIAA (the MPAA and RIAA, et al)— the idea that all
technologies will be designed by their little Politburo and
forced to adhere to standards intended to limit copying.

It's Orwellian — and so I decided to update the story by
mashing up Asimov and 1984 and this is what I got.

TW: In your story, Natalie the "rogue" scientist tells
Arturo the cop that he lives in a country where
"inconvenient science is criminalized, where whole
avenues of experimentation and research are shut down
in the service of a half-baked superstition..." Does this
relate to real world science vs. morality issues such as
the stem cell research debate that is currently raging in
the United States?

CD: Oh yes! But I was really thinking of the 1998 Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that makes it a crime
to tell people about the flaws in anti-copying software,
like the stuff that stops you from watching foreign DVDs
on your home player, or from listening to songs from the
ITunes store on a non-Apple player.

Since 1998, telling people about the mathematical
flaws in the cryptosystems used by these systems has
been illegal. In 2001, the FBI jailed a foreign researcher,
Dmitry Syklarov, who'd just given a presentation

describing how badly implemented Adobe's anti-copying
technology for ebooks was. Dmitry said, basically, that
the emperor had no clothes — so we put him in jail.

The fact is, it's never going to get any harder to copy
data. Anyone who claims otherwise is either trying to sell
you something or has not been paying attention for the
past 20 years.

Making laws that prohibit telling people how easy it is to
copy things doesn't make copying harder — it just makes
criminals of us all.

TW: If you had the supreme power to create your own all-
encompassing Three Laws, would you do it? If so, what
would Doctorow's Three Laws be?

CD:

1. Don't punish the innocent to get at the guilty.

2. Never declare war on an abstract noun like "terrorism."

3. Free speech is more important than business models.

TW: Do you believe Western Civilization (and by this, I'm
referring to North America, the UK and Western Europe)
is falling behind Central Europe and the Eastern World in
the fields of medicine, art, literature and physics in the
same way you describe UNATS trailing Eurasia in your
story? If so, do you feel there is a primary cause for the
gap between the two?

CD: I don't think so — not right now. Central Europe and
China are plagued by corruption and repression, which
are antithetical to science. However, I think that the
Brazilians are kicking serious ass, as are the Indians.

The gap arises because these countries don't have the
same incumbent industries — pharmaceutical companies,
entertainment giants — who are demanding legal
protection from technological progress.

■ BEFORE TME S'E(;-£.

7)'

VST "Kf: M:W aNE/-W flCB(3S5 THE STBtET.
ALI- THE CHIUPSEiJ WOU_P BE SPSNP'NO T14E
MY HERf, EXPU3T3W& "Vll? NEW W^5'/E[-,

THAT 15 vlUfiJ WF M-EXPLCRE

tpcM NEW r-A>rA^r\c e^ewt m
tr/fs. u^ST WEEK rr was

TM; CUE'/jB UITTUE F,yiNC C/1P5
BiPPINiS C'ER yOUR HE4P
S^FCRE THAT r HA>' BEEN THS
CAW rCBf 5T.

if

;^NC Sff 3Rf TMAT IT THi t\'iAWi>

■ insects Ti^r satmePsP u-f

f. UITE? /,Ni; K.:ST ^NP 5P RiTEP IT ALU

f.yy wi^,EP5 -HEy somnof! ;hewep it

UP AVP /<W?f FJiTCRieS i3UT Cr IT.

tur BerCTXi: ALL Cif^ TH>aT V'Ai
"HE BE'/0LL.T|£IN. I WAS OK-Y TtK
'A^N ANP I EARELy REMEMBER IT.
■^HE CI ME WOULP 3E/^(NP US
-^kWT Tf.RRBLc WRJWa WTH
FAVTASTIC l^OVyi& PIcrTURES.

7

rr rt-i6 A TI/V.E WHEN I WAS fl^vJAYB
A LTut HUNiJBy, MA'^A ANC? WOCA
/^HISFERtP AN5BILY AT rACH CnVEB,
AN? Wr' ,|-TLE BRCTHER, TPS"/ER.
CRIEP ■■"HN S'SKLy CRIES ALL .MI&HT.

?awBii$M .vAf.. T-ie saisrMAL cyusE o?

THE fievOlOnOH. I'/E NEEPsP THE CURf
ANP THOSE WtTV! ACCESS TO T WE;3£
A/i3RE CONCERWEP OVE^ HCyALIES ANP
PR3FIT6 ^N 6AVIMS LIVES.

EWWWW,
2CWEIES ARE
PIStUSTlNC

HAHAPAHA.'

rOUfi ATTENTION ,

pt-eaee.

■MM

M.P WDRP TH/iT
I^E CITY IS UKP£^

tl

IP THcKfc ;5Vfc

iPyiRr/JlfNT SU'UPtM5S

YOU iflN WALK
THERE iM 1656 HAM
TEN /yl&JUTE*, VOLl
SHOULD ViAH<

!F VOUR ELiJLCI^jLf
LA£KS SHELTERS, OR tF
IT TAKE MORE TAAH

TEN iV,IN.-T^S TC TO
YJUP E;;iLP'Nt'S SHSLTE^,
/CU MA/ use SCV.E CF
TMf LIMITFP SMSLTEV
SPAiE WEaE.

-/Alt: m

B.^IUC'je 15 MORE
THAN A TSN MINtTB
WA:.K.' I'LL HAVf TD
e.T>i/ MfRE?

OH,

POaR ^APEMTS.'
'HEV'^ T^INX-

I* 461

■nEY'-L

THINK yCU-Rf
%»Ft WrTH WE,
LEEZE.

TLl- S \A f

MERE wrn yoj

AND SiJrH iJiJR
PARErirS MK
WOFtpy ABOUT

us.

6H£ L,V£6
A^Ri3S^ -r,,-E

gTCfET; you SEE

HOW &Ei-F"SW
= HE 16

My F-""ilfcN7
■S SCARcP. I
iVILl- STAy
•.VITV, HER.

VOU
&0 HOME

/Ol-R fRIFMP
■(VILL 3E FrSJE AMD
lOVf.V StS: HE^ IN A
FiW MINiJ^S i'/HjN
■THE/ S0UN7 THE ALL
CLEAR. HURRY
NOW.

TAB OA/ dF'HER THE

5 ME WAS A
VERy Lu.4Xy ^IRL.

'AtK Sir TV(I5 VitARVtiii

AW SV^O^IV FDf THE
paCSUFM. YDU-LI- WEE?
TO MfS M-ER !N

V<AAt

f

OH!

THE crwE? oa

POPfi. The CIME.

WE WALKEP HOWE THAT (JliJ^. EVES
THOUdfJ rr W5 MR. THE METRj3
V«S\'T V/5RKIN(S /SND THE AK CAR*

£0A<£ OP THE BUIL:;iNi>5 V/ERE
MOTH US BUT aUSB-E, WXCr\'i>
ANP PEOP-,E i-ABDREP TD WAKE

IT WAS THE NEXT CAV WKEN I F(3UM0
OUT T>^AT ftfiXA m? UtV. LEEZA HAP
BEEN KILL£P UNPER THE CINE.

[13 1]

"■,'.•0 'flltV-S AFTES

FOR THS cr/.

iVHtN THE WaWM TW.E CIT/

£AME '£)R POP A. KO MtOLm OF
R£4aD(g COiiL-> CAAHOe HER

TREJJCHeS F^CJR THE cnv.

THAT K'tHT, TWE
CITY FOB W£,

/ IT 6 FOR

yOLIR LITTLe
\ (JiRu TO
^V. SERVE. .

\

4 i'l

TNC ■A'££K6 dMD ONE PAV

/•M7>1.' -HE

CWf Mtf.E FCP
KliV.. HE t!A5 Pf&SINiS
THEMCHeS yeSTERDAV
Afit- .VfVf KCT EN
HW OINCE.

coo. oooo...

•fit: MORE

TREsKHes. wetu

TAKE n-E iVAR TO
THSSE B^ISTORPS d.\P
SLIP B£R3Be
THfy KNOW WEVc
Kli-LEP T4EM.

My HUSBANP
Pli55. I RIGHT. WY
Ciit-^HTEB WRfS

FOR CCIR
r«4r^ £NOU0M

fOR ru/s

FAMIiY.

io.viRsjE, you

4IHL MUST MRRy
WdllER FOR THE OLC
ONES IN THE PLIIL?,^!?.
P/,5 BCV W'LL BE ^EFT
IN -HE CSECH; WiTH
TVE OTV^ER
CHrLPRE\.

[135]

HER FATHER VlFV.

AWTA PIPNT caME HOME FROM
TV:E f-\Wnf*> FOR THREE V/EEKS.
I PR/iYEti SHE i'MSvJ'T y£/i:?.

OH,

/ ^^^^^^ '

NINE iVONTHS APTIrB
HER [ilsP.

V/IMTEa $EmtP IN TH/iT WEEK m> "WE
COLP /M6 OUR Co.>JSTdMT CC>MPAMION.
SRE/i^' RiTKNS WERE t^Gfi')^ TO I2<J
;iKl? THSy H/JD M/iR? S'OW/

pceeLss IN IT. eveayc»JE knew thev

V/ER?. '■^^E13e TO INCREASE THg WEr£-HT.

I

>r

My FAMILY'S
RATION, YOU LT

gasTABD! Give

ITSACtC!

^1

THAT WAS 'WHEN T S^'W THE FJR5T
ZO.'^IE. IT WAS UNWISTAMBUE.
THI6 OJE HAD BEEN A SOtPIER
FOR THE t; TY BEFORS IT5 DEA'H
U\V AV/FUL RESLIRREOION.

3DMBII6J^. WAS Ct/REC AFTER THE
LAST REv/OLClTION. V/HEN THE CTV
COULP^J'T £-ET THE TRftPE/WRKEP
paU5S WE KEEPEP ''O WFE IT
OUT, WE SET THE PRINTERS TO
MdKE OUR OWN.

B= I'M
CAUC-HTF ^

4!

VOU'L- BE SHCT.

youtt ?miy Will be

S,*7r. AU CP us HeRE ;
W!LL BE St-.CT.

5ll

TV/C P^yS APTfeR Bell*?
BITEM S/ THE KWEIE.

L-^ r 1

a \-

I

1 1

"HE PEVEP W.P EfcCCT'^E W/
;CHST/iMT CUMPfl-^m. -T WAPE WE
WAL< LKE J^J 0,P WOWJN AMD I
M-y TRijUSLE PCCUSINS' £y£6.

r RECSi-NIZE "HE KIPS !H TVlE TTJENCP-.
THEy //ER£ iV.y PRIEM?& ONE TIWE, ViW,T
6S£M£D LIKE yEARfi ylfiO WUEM t WAS Alt
^MD WOT 'MiUR/lBLE WLK'WiJ C3J?PSE.

THiEE... J ;

[ 1 4-3]

p£6PEiw,Te, r TJiep a

few Of- TAB PHRAS;6
TK/ST we ■AtflOf rhO^t

TVIRTY FE£T FURTHER CJOWN THE
IREfKH WAS AM ENSiVy 50LC1ER.

He SPOKE /i C CFEBeUT UUJiJUA6-£,
tWE 0N£ FROM THE CiUE TH/JT we

HE/KD SO osreM.

i.-: AM

I'u 'lifc oe;ii7 IN A F-e// wys fsom tHt

TOthm^th fi.WtlM. fm IT WC-HT ^.ELF
/.<c &ET -MRjCU&H to H'M, I PIPN" WJMT
TO ENP UP IN A TRENCH UIKE 70Vfi..

Hfe KrS6fc7 ME BACK FOS A A'CWfcNT
BEFORE Pi:UU'Ni> AWAV. T>IE UOPK ON
Hf5 FAC; CHAM&EP, 5CFTENEP. HE
ALWC5T LDCKEP 1.1KB r-E V/OULP CR/.

:'LL (gevew

Pi?BtE:T
VOU.

mi

THE SFY-EVES WERE ALL PLjUNTBP. I FWK
AS FAST AS : COULP CUT n<E TRENCHES
A)JD THRD[Ji>H THE CnV. ALL I MAP 'O K?
i^«5 Rf^lCH TWe WrJAaC TO CO\'\tW. THAT
He WOU-P TAK* CAUi OF MAT;^ jftN7 TRO'/~£fi
WKE^ I W^S «»0E, PEAP ANP SHAWBLINfi
A/^DNiJ THE ZDMEIES.

I

TVAKJ EVEP, ANP MY
AB/-1S A^JP LtftS
WOULOMT WDRii
RISHT. Tk-E 20Meil«M
WAS KI1LIJJ(; A«£
FASTER THAN THE
SOLP1ER MAP 6An>.

KISSINt WITMNAL.

LIVE.

FROEASLy.

IT WCLD

HAVE eeeN a

CtRTAINTV IF yOLI'D
=UC;<INS TC3U? ME -fOU
■AAU ZOmWSIA YOU

Lime iPiDT.

you

Ai-fiEEP TO
TAKE CARE OF
My f AV.ILy.

I TH MK
THyST iURDMe
VOUS ?OMe ISM 16
RerPAyWfcKT E*40H£H,
SO UNILATsRALLy
SBNE5OTW"TEP WE
TERMS OF CUR
PEAL.

,1 ,

tWE^ie ACE
LOTS or- TKIN(J*
WE HAVE ACCESS
TO HERE TVIAT VO'J
CANT iJET IN THE

crrf. v/HAT mi uao

WOUlO have KILLED
yOJ IF HE HAPM'T
H£L?£P.

r WON"

SETTJAy My cr/

TO ITS EME/iflcS

evcR a;-ain.

r WAS A

TRAtrOU. ONCE.
yuT I HAP A

FEVEFi AfiP r

WAS pyiNi

[ 1 4-5]

TWO YEARS AFTER

HE Wis R 5HT. f./iCii MY I

/MS ex^sE' TO w/;Re

THE MCKCuSES Of flAtt flW

W5IER TO Bt DbAQ i>J5 PE
Ti? TWF. TXN&S WE HA?' TO
7C TO €Um\\'B.

I CAN'T
MATA?

CMiy OWE ItAH IM THE EMTIRE
Ctrl' snL'_ PW? VCTK'NS
PRJMTERS "WAT COi^lV t-'ELP
ME. THE TRATOROUS <tftZi>BD.

V

WtZABP! I
AM S}£Af! X
N££C YOUR

/OCR CAMERAS
WORK. YiJ-R PRlMTfRS
WCWK. YOU'RE fiKrr
UCSINt T^IE INFO*VAR

TWEWA/WEPC. p^^^^

t-EARlNS

"HE ^RPESEP
LO-5 C IW nJE -IEARIM5
AlP IS FJXeO, THAT
5HC3ULC 00 IT.

WW PONT
you 'AilP US?
£"/E US THE
tO<i\C SC WE
CAN PIOHT
BACtf?

r

IT'S M2T
TVIdT SIMPLE, :
CAN", t Ji.6T
CANT.

PFaNTERS ON T-^E
C»™ER Sice O' TMKT
COUUJ
WIN we
WAR>

yauR yJUTn-EP

yCJ. THE Re IS
MSTHIMif HERE. Lers
._E^Ve THESE PEOFtE,
IN PEACE.

£V/£N T^e WI2;SSD
^^HNCLOiJ/, IT .VOULC:

EETR'EVE T.

WANT TC 6E£
THe PEOPLE ■rfMO
WMT THE INFOWjSH.

T^:Ey w(LL BE-iEve A^e

;!BCUT THE W-i-^H.^ (<K7
HIS TECKIJCLOJ-y. I'
VOU Di-J'T TAKE ME,
I'LL KILL y£JLI.

l/fWiJ? H<i5C£N£D
L^SI^ TH/iT HAS HCn
BE EM ;CM5?PaWSEP
By THE ENEM/'S

attack:?

[ 1 4g]

COMB Whi
MB.

NOW
WE CLEAN
HOUSE.

WHAT A
^OPDAMNEP SVASTE.
SPITEfUL STiJP/l?,
BONEMEAPE^..

WfTM W A Few H0JJR5 THE CtT/
PeCPli WJ> VC^MlOAOeO THE

HEJSRINS AIP ANP SET TO //Cf^K
A' C^JNTERINS THE E'JEW("5
TO OUR TECHhJDLaSY.

..IT ^WS HER
PEAPINf /I IDS THAT
tAVe IT AWAY,
WASNT IT?

IT5 O^/ER,

pimuy.

'I I

1.

yES, WIZJJRP.
TVI£ HAPEcNED

La^K le 3eiN0 usee
TO CDNFOU^jy THE

SIEC-fc AS WE

TEN yE^R6 AFTERS 'kE eiftf .

THE PRlKTtRS CAW.E BA::K Oj UINE
ANO MEDIi;l^E, F05P, A«P SlIPP.IES
V/ERE y/ACE ANT* 7Eu I'jT REC?. REPAIRED
^UtlO\H06 AFPEAREP AM? /AAR/ELOUC
A»R CAfiS V/ERE IK THE SKY AtAIN.

Ma

1 l\

VALEHnNE? T
CAN'T BEU!E\^
trS YOU!

i

WE WALKEP AHP TALKED AN7
FINALLY KIS-SEP AtAIN SEfCRE
iSDIrJS TO TME RESULT CINE TO
■rfATiH ONJE Cf TVE OLP /VW3VIES.

/

^i^/ SACK Im

5, cA£H V

IN A Ct9&fKKi IN THE /.<A N
SCUARE I PfCEVEP 'WE OFFICIAL
/AEPAL FBjOM THE OLD CCWIRAPE
HERD HW5ELF AMD BECAME A
HERO Of- TME ;nV LIKE «ATA.

.VE STARTfD SaViETHfMiJ
THEN M -Hfc TRENCHES,
PEALieiNt "MAT NEITHER SIDE
RfALLY KNEW WkAT THEy WERE
'I6MT1\5 FDR. TVAT SO^^fTHI^^>
^AVE US HOPE Ai^ STHENiSTH
AMD JOy AND LO'/E FOR THc
REST C? ^-I'R LlVfrS.

END.

DOCTOROU ON: "AFTER

THE SIEGE"

Editor Tom Waltz: Cory, you've said in past interviews
that the story "After the Siege" holds an especially
personal meaning to you. For those who don't know,
could you please explain why that is?

Cory Doctorow: This story is based loosely on the Siege
of Leningrad, one of the most brutal moments in WWII —
Leningrad, a city of millions, was laid siege to by Hitler's
army for 900 days, and for most of that time, they were
not re-provisioned. Residents were all inducted into civil
defense tasks, grueling and grisly never-ending labor. By
the second winter, they'd burned every stick of furniture
and eaten every animal — including the rats. There was
even cannibalism. Most of these extreme effects were
Stalin's fault: he considered Hitler his ally, so when the
shelling started, he refused to allow anyone in Leningrad
to defend themselves — generals were ordered to stay in
their summer homes and not come back to join the army.
No one — not even children — was allowed to evacuate.

My grandmother, Valentina Rachman, was twelve when
the siege began. She lived in Leningrad with her two-
year-old brother (my great-uncle Bora, who is now one of
the curators at the brilliant Popov Communications
Museum, a kind of Soviet Silicon Valley Computer
Museum) and her parents. It was two years before she
was evacuated, and she hauled corpses, dug trenches,
and starved. When she was fourteen, they evacuated her
to Siberia, where she recuperated working on a horse
farm, and then ended up in the Red Army, where she met
my grandfather. She got pregnant, so they stole papers
and fled to Azerbaijan, where my father was born.

Growing up, I never understood the Siege. My
grandmother would tell us she'd experienced horrors in
the war, and I'd kind of shrug, thinking of friends whose
families had been through the concentration camps. I
remember thinking, "You spent most of the war at home
with your family... how bad could it have been?"

But in 2006, I visited St. Petersburg (the present name
for Leningrad) with my parents, grandmother, brother and
sister-in-law, saw my varied and sprawling family there
and walked the streets. It was high summer — not quite
the White Nights (the period in June when the sun never

sets and the locals stay out all night reveling), but still hot
and sunny, with long bloody sunsets that started at 9 P.M.
and lingered for an hour or more.

My grandmother walked us through the streets of her
childhood and pointed to buildings, saying things like, "I
was too weak to carry the body from that building so we
threw him out the window and scraped him up
afterwards." She told us about cannibalism and war,
about noble deeds and foul ones, and I was never the
same. A month later, I started this story while on a flight
from London to Singapore. I wrote 6,000 words in the
sky, and the rest over the next week or two on further
long-haul flights. I'd settle into my seat and three
thousand words would just happen. And I'd look out the
window and we'd be over some ocean again.

I gave this story's initial publication rights to Esli, a
Russian-language science fiction magazine. They
translated it for me and I gave a copy to my grandmother.

TW: Politically speaking, Russia appears to be at an
interesting crossroads these days with President Putin
working to maintain control of the country even after his
presidency expires. Do you see any correlation between
the real world instability of that country with the events
that take place in "After the Siege"?

CD: Well, sort of. Russia's a complete fucking disaster, of
course, and Putin's a creepy, thuggish ex-KGB apparat
whose machine is in large part responsible for turning
Russia into a nation that is losing ten percent of its
population every year due to early mortality.

But Russia isn't the best parallel to the mythical nation
of "After the Siege;" a better parallel would be any of the
many former Soviet republics — or even Iraq — where all
the local infrastructure has been sold at fire-sale rates to
foreign companies to pay off a debt that the former
dictators owed to Western governments.

It's the slimiest of slimy tricks — a protection racket
played against an entire nation. You get a crummy
dictatorship whose local strongman borrows gigantic
amounts from Western banks while starving and torturing
his people. Then, after the people get rid of him (or

invaders topple him), his debts are passed on to the
people he's been torturing and killing and oppressing
(often with guns bought with Western loans).

These people are expected to pay the construction
costs for the torture chambers they've been suffering in,
and to do so, they have to sell off their waterworks,
power, roads, medical system — you name it. These are
then run like corrupt fast-food outlets, delivering least
value for most money, so the cost of everything from
bread to power goes through the roof, while a few
Fortune 100s get even richer (think of Chile for a sterling
example of this).

This is the kind of government that I pictured the
Revolutionaries of Moma and Popa's generation toppling.
Cowards and profiteers who'd rather make nice with the
cruel artificial life forms we call corporations than give
their own people bread and medicine.

TW: There is a sequence in "After the Siege" where the
main character, Valentine, plants electronic spy eyes in
the trenches along the front lines at the behest of the
Wizard, who says he uses them to document the
atrocities there, though later he is accused of using the
devices to exploit the violence for profit and
entertainment. Is it fair to assume you are comparing
these fictional devices to real-life embedded reporters
who were attached to military units during the Iraq
invasion?

CD: Well, sure — naturally. The media's total abdication
of its role in Iraq to serve as the fourth estate and report
objectively and fairly on what actually happens and
happened there was the disgrace of this young century.
They say piracy will kill television — if it destroys these
bastards and the cynical profiteers who turned the
press into a gutless propaganda machine, then so
much the better. Steal some TV, kids — you're
protecting democracy!

TW: Many people in your story suffer from a disease you
term as "Zombiism." Is this comparable to, say, the
horrendously extreme amount of AIDS cases in Africa, a
continent also rife with warfare?

CD: Yeah, and all the other diseases — like malaria, which
kills one person every second — that our pharma
companies can't even be bothered to do research on
because boner-pills are so much more profitable.

We grant global monopolies to these companies over
the reproduction of chemical compounds. They argue
that they need these patents because otherwise, no one
would do the core research they do and we'd all be dead
of disease without them.

But what do they spend their regulatory windfall on?
Figuring out how to reformulate heartburn pills that are
going public domain so that they can be re-patented,
cheating the system and the world out of twenty more
years of low-cost access to their magic potions;
marketing budgets that beggar the imagination; lobbyists
arguing for stricter rules.

Meanwhile, people are actually dying, in great
numbers, of diseases treatable by drugs that Roche and
Pfizer and the rest of the dope-mafia won't sell them at an
accessible price, and won't let them make themselves.

TW: Well, this is the last issue in this first volume of IDW's
Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the IHere and Now.
How do you feel about this adventure in the world of
comic books?

CD: This has been a brilliant ridel I've always been a
funnybook reader, but I never dreamt I'd be involved in
their creation. Now that I've done so, I'm keen to do some
more. I just wrote my first script, a little eight-page story
for Slave Labor's final issue of The IHaunted Mansion
comic, and it was a blast. Now I'm thinking about other
ways I can get involved in the industry.

www - idwpublishing-com